Pure Intentions
by AncientCovenants
Summary: When'd you get so pushy?" he asked, changing route to grab his jacket and keys. "Probably around the time I was separated from my body and you guys left my corpse behind on an alien planet."
1. Chapter One

**Pure Intentions**

**Summary:** They'd lost a colleague, a teammate, and a friend. And they would do anything and everything they could to make things right.

Excerpt: "When'd you get so pushy?" he asked, changing route to grab his jacket and keys.

"Probably around the time I was separated from my body and you guys left my corpse behind on an alien planet."

* * *

Since I'm in such a giving mood, I give to you **Pure Intentions**! Why am I in such a good mood, you ask? Well for whoever happens to care, I just turned 16! Sweet, huh?! Yeah, so I'm happy. Very, _very_ happy. Only one thing could possibly make me more exuberant (me and my vocabulary :-D ) ... 

And that would be reviews!!! Hint, hint! ;-)

Love y'all, enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter One**** -**

_"Jack, we got a problem here!"_

_"Yeah, I hear them. You and Teal'c get outta there and meet us halfway."_

"Carter, let's go!"

"I've almost got it!"

"Carter, now!"

Sam sighed and stopped what she was doing. Sometimes her CO could be so unreasonable. _Just a few more seconds and I would've had it_, she thought as she stuffed her tools back in her pack and followed her CO into the forest.

Before long they'd covered about three-fourths of the distance to the halfway-point and had a Jaffa patrol on their tracks. Staff weapon blasts flew past them and hit the trees. Though most of them missed their mark, one did manage to hit Sam in the side.

As she fell, Jack could make out Daniel and Teal'c making their way toward them, providing cover-fire. He turned and ran back to her side. Turning her over, he listened for the sound of her breathing. Nothing. He pressed a couple of fingers to her neck for a pulse. Also nothing. A near-miss made Jack stumble backward. Carter was dead.

He knew that they should take the body with them, that Carter deserved a proper burial. But the military side of his brain told him that the extra weight would slow them down. Besides, they could come back and retrieve the body later, after it was clear. He got to his feet and joined the others.

"What..." Daniel started.

Jack shook his head. "Fall back," he ordered. "Go, go, go!" His voice was hard, the tone he only used in full-military mode. With one last look at his friend's corpse, Daniel turned and followed.

* * *

General Hammond looked at his watch and sighed. SG-1 was over half an hour late. 

_Offworld activation! Repeat... Offworld activation!_

Speaking of SG-1...

The General made his way down to the control room.

_Incoming traveler! Repeat... Incoming traveler!_

"All defense teams, stand by!"

Walter looked up. "It's SG-1, sir."

The General nodded. He'd thought as much. "Open the iris." He didn't have to say it though, as Walter was one step ahead of him. Hammond headed straight for the gateroom.

* * *

SG-1 stumbled onto the gateroom's ramp. 

"Close the iris!"

The iris closed behind the team, or rather, what was left of it. Several thuds were heard against the metal iris before the gate disengaged.

"Stand down."

The General walked up to SG-1.

"Where's Major Carter?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Daniel stiffened at the mention of their missing team member. He tore off his glasses and wiped his sleeve over his eyes as he broke through the airmen.

"Daniel..." Jack started.

Daniel blatantly ignored everyone around him and stormed out the door.

"Daniel!" Jack yelled after him. "Damn it..."

"I shall go after him, O'Neill," Teal'c said solemnly.

Jack glanced at his friend. "Thanks, T."

Teal'c left the room to go after Daniel. Jack sighed. His team was falling apart around him and there was nothing he could do.

"Colonel O'Neill..."

Jack looked at the General warily.

"Major Carter?" He asked again, sure he didn't want to hear the answer. His fears were confirmed.

"Carter, she... she's gone, sir. She didn't make it."

"Get yourself cleaned up and then report to the infirmary, son."

"Yes, sir."

* * *

Sam felt like she was floating. Darkness surrounded her but there was a sense that she wasn't alone. She tried to think but it was too hard, and she was tired. She slipped back into oblivion.

* * *

The second time she awoke, she could hear voices, sounds, but she couldn't make them out. 

The third time, she heard whispers but still couldn't make out much. She did catch a few words though, words like "don't wanna hear," "memorial," and "too late." She wondered what had happened. Had someone died? Her heart gripped at the thought that it could have been one of her team. Before she could ponder the thought any longer, she slipped away again.

* * *

The fourth time, she could hear clearly. But she still couldn't see, and that worried her. What would she do without sight? She calmed herself and tried to listen in on the conversation around her. 

"Listen, Jack, I know she was a part of your team, but you've gotta think about finding someone to take her place."

_**Her**__ place?_ she thought. They were going to replace her!

"I can't do that, sir."

Leave it to Jack to stand up for her.

"Jack, be reasonable. You can't help her now."

Like hell he couldn't. Sam knew that he would do anything and everything in his power to help, not only her, but anyone of his team.

"You don't know that."

"Do you know something I don't?"

"No, but..."

"Jack."

The colonel was silent. Then Sam heard the General's voice again.

"Let her go."

_No! No, please, sir, don't let it go! Don't let me go! Sir, please, don't do this! Jack! Please!_

She screamed as loud as she could but it was like a mute trying to yell at a wall.

* * *

The fifth time, she realized she could see again. It was morning and still pretty early as she glanced out a window. She blinked and was surprised to find Jack directly in front of her. 

_"Sir?"_

He looked terrible, and she wondered if he'd gotten any sleep at all. Then suddenly she was grabbing a pair of keys and walking out the door. But it wasn't even her door. And she didn't remember moving. As she made her way down the drive, her mind connected the dots. She was her CO. Scratch that, she wasn't her CO, she was in his head and she could now see and hear everything that he could.

She tried to communicate with him, tried talking to him in his head, with his lips, tried to move an arm to write a note but she couldn't. She had no control. Sure she could see and hear what he could, but then, so could he, after all, he was driving. She felt helpless. And then it clicked. The rest of the pieces clicked in her head, or, rather, Jack's.

'_Let her go.'_

_'You can't help her now.'_

_'... memorial...'_

She was dead. That's what they all thought, they thought she was dead. She couldn't remember what had happened to cause them to assume that but she did know that she was alone. No, not alone. Her best and probably only hope was Jack. With that thought in mind, she slowly fell back into the dark abyss of before.

* * *

End Act I 

I mean Chapter One... yeah...

So? Huh, huh? Y'all like it so far? I sure hope so. Now pull your little mousie over to the bottom left hand side of your screen and give the button a little click. You know which one I mean.

Ciao!


	2. Chapter Two

**Pure Intentions**

**Summary: **They'd lost a colleague, a teammate, and a friend. And they would do anything and everything they could to make things right.

Excerpt: "When'd you get so pushy?" he asked, changing route to grab his jacket and keys.

"Probably around the time I was separated from my body and you guys left my corpse behind on an alien planet."

* * *

I bring you Chapter Two! So soon, can it be? Yes, indeed, it can, and so I leave you.

* * *

**Chapter 2**** -**

For the next couple of days, SG-1 was on leave. Of course, for Sam, that meant that every moment she was conscious would do one of two things: try to reach out to Jack (she tired everything she could think of but nothing, I repeat, _nothing_ had worked) or conserve her energy to try again later.

During this time, (after she'd gotten back her sense of sight and sound, or tapped into Jack's) she realized that **her** sense of sight and sound went beyond his. It was like astral projection, she could see and hear things, to a certain point, as if she were herself, another whole person again. There was a slight problem with this, though: even with this new ability, she still couldn't be seen or heard herself. _So much for communication_, she thought bitterly.

Soon after she realized her new power, she also realized that her consciousness must still be evolving. She could see herself in mirrors now, albeit a bit transparent, but at least she looked like her old self. She could walk besides Jack like a normal human being. The only exceptions, of course, being that she had no physical body, (therefore, not being able to touch or move things at will) and being connected with Jack.

Normally, this wouldn't be an issue but since she had to keep a close astral proximity to his body, it meant that she went wherever he did and she couldn't try and reach out to anyone else if they weren't around. Just her luck that Jack decided to mourn her "death" at home and all alone.

It could have been weeks, days, hours, she wasn't sure. Eventually, she lost track of the time all together. She was beginning to lose hope, as well. She knew that if Jack could hear her thoughts (which he couldn't), he'd reprimand her and forbid her from even remotely straying back to these pessimistic thoughts. Though in his state, she wasn't quite sure he was even coherent.

And that's when she snapped.

"Don't you think you've had enough?" Sam sniped angrily, sick of seeing her CO wallow in misery. Hunched over, arms on his knees, sat the great Jack O'Neill on his sofa, holding a bottle.

"Nope."

Sam was taken aback. She clearly hadn't been expecting an answer.

"You can hear me?" she asked carefully.

"And see you."

He could... Sam was excited, ecstatic, enthused, she was, she was... she was incredulous.

"You don't seem very surprised." she stated. managing to keep her voice indifferent.

"Should I be?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I kinda expected a more enthusiastic answer."

"Such as?" he pressed.

How was **she** supposed to know how he would act? If it was her in his place she'd probably be... at least relieved at the fact he wasn't dead.

"Something like 'Carter! You're alive!'" she was nearly yelling now. What was wrong with him? I was like he didn't care anymore...

"That's the thing... you're not."

Sam was confused. And that didn't happen very often, if at all.

"Yes I am." she stated. "I'm standing right here, aren't I?"

"Yes. And no."

Now he'd completely lost her.

"That clears up everything."

Jack took another gulp of scotch.

"Will you stop that!" she yelled at him.

"Stop what?" he asked, slightly taken aback. It was covered up though, just as soon as it had appeared.

"Drinking. Don't you think you've had a bit too much?"

The last thing she needed was her CO to drink himself into a stupor.

"Nope. I can still feel the pain of losing you."

The words cut into her like a knife. He really did think she was dead and that she wasn't coming back. She shuddered at the thought and, instead, redoubled her efforts. If he thought he was gonna get rid of her that easily, he was sorely mistaken.

"You haven't lost me," she said carefully. "Not yet anyway."

"Newsflash, Carter," Jack snapped at her. "you're dead. Might as well face it."

Sam was calm. "I would if it was true... but it's not." She noticed that Jack rolled his eyes. She started in again. "Look, if that was true, then how could I be standing right here," she asked. "Talking to you?"

"I'm hallucinating."

Unbelievable. He never ceased to amaze her. The man had an answer to everything.

"You're hallucinating?"

"Yup."

How was he so damn calm about the fact he was supposedly hallucinating his 'dead' 2IC?

"Do you hallucinate me a lot, 'cause it seems like you were half-expecting this."

"I was."

That didn't make any sense.

"What? Why?" she asked. He didn't answer. She waited.

"It happens," he started. "From time to time. Everyone's reaction is different, of course, but sometimes... after you lose a person you were close to, a friend or loved one, your mind forgets they're gone. Sometimes you still think that they're there, with you. It happens."

Now Sam felt horrible. She knew he'd lost a son but she didn't think that it had been **this** bad. Granted, when she'd lost her mom she raced down the stairs in the mornings and check every room. For days after the funeral, she wished for a miracle, thinking that, somehow, her mom would suddenly appear and hug her and kiss her and promise her that she'd never leave again. Then they would have breakfast together, mother and daughter. But that never did happen, and Sam felt terrible for dredging up painful memories for Jack.

"Oh. I, I didn't... I'm sorry."

"You didn't know," he said, sitting back.

She saw the opportunity and flung herself at it.

"That's what I mean, I _didn't_ know. I'm not one of your hallucinations, sir."

"Yasureyoubetcha."

Sam almost growled in frustration. "I'm serious. I **am** real and I **can** prove it. Ask me a question, something that you wouldn't know. Something about... theoretical astrophysics or quantum mechanics or..."

"Carter..."

"Sir, please."

She realized that she was begging but he was the only one that could see her to begin with and if he didn't believe her then all hope was lost. Jack must have seen something in her eyes because he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Time is relative." he said at last.

Sam jumped right in.

"The theory of relativity." she stated. "The basic theory of relativity, according to Einstein, states that in a vacuum, the speed of light is constant and, for motion, an absolute physical boundary. This does not have a major impact on the average person because we travel much slower than the speed of light but objects traveling near or at light speed will shorten in length and move slower from the point of view of someone on Earth. The equivalence between mass and energy is revealed in Einstein's famous equation: _E mc__2_, in which energy equals mass times the velocity of light squared. When applied to his theory of gravitational fields..."

She was so into her explanation that she didn't even notice the change until he spoke her name.

"Sam?"

That one word was spoken with such awe that Sam's breath caught in her throat. _It can't be. It can't possibly be her_, Jack thought._ I watched her die, right in front of my eyes._

"Yes. It's me, sir."

"But how..."

"I don't know. What I **do** know is that you guys left my body back on P30-154 and unless you retrieve it, I'm stuck here... wherever here is exactly... without anywhere to go."

"What?"

"Look, it's a long story and all I have to go on right know is a hunch but unless we find my body I don't think I'll be able to physically do much of anything."

"Okay, then," Jack put down his bottle and got up. "I'll call Hammond."

"But then we'd have to fill in Daniel and Teal'c and Janet would want to know, too... it'd be easier to just go to the SGC."

"When'd you get so pushy?" he asked, changing route to grab his jacket and keys.

"Probably around the time I was separated from my body and you guys left my corpse behind on an alien planet." She snapped back. He stopped. She immediately regretted the words and their harsh tone as soon as they came out of her astral mouth.

"I deserved that. I'm sorry."

She knew she shouldn't be mad at him, he was doing what was best for the team. Had she been in his place she might have even done the same thing.

"No, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that it's just, I guess I'm, well... having a few issues right now. I mean I don't even know what I am at the moment."

He paused at the door and turned to her.

"You're Carter, a friend and member of my team. I should've never left you behind, whether I thought you were dead or not. What I did was inexcusable."

She didn't have anything to say to that. She stood by his side as he locked his door. As they walked on silence toward his car, she spoke.

"Tell you what: you help me fix this mess and all is forgiven."

"I'd help you regardless," Jack mumbled absent-mindedly. Sam heard him.

"I know," she said, "Thank you."

Jack rounded his truck.

"Anytime."

* * *

Aww... sweet!

Review!


	3. Chapter Three

**Pure Intentions**

**Summary: **They'd lost a colleage, a teammate, and a friend. And they would do anything and everything they could to make things right.

Excerpt: "When'd you get so pushy?" he asked, changing route to grab his jacket and keys.

"Probably around the time I was separated from my body and you guys left my corpse behind on an alien planet."

* * *

Technobabble in the previous chapter was brought to you by...

My paraphrasing of the theory of relativity from two websites that make things simple and easy to understand: osti.gov/accomplishments/nuggets/einstein/speedoflight.html and /theory-of-relativity.htm.

* * *

**Chapter Three**

General Hammond was going through a pile of paperwork, doing anything to keep his mind off the death of Major Carter. A brilliant astrophysicist, Carter had immediately been assigned to be on the team returning to Abydos to retrieve Doctor Jackson. Jack was to lead the team and, a couple of trips through the gate later, they'd brought home Teal'c. In the days that followed, the four of them had become a team... and a family. A family that was torn apart because of the war they'd started with the Goa'uld.

The General's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a sharp knock at the door. Part of the General wanted to look up and see Major Carter with a report in hand, ready to convince him to let her perform some dangerous experiment that could have benefits for all of mankind. Or to let her go offworld to study some odd energy signature that a team had picked up.

The latter of which had been the case on that fateful day.

But he knew that wasn't the case, now. In fact, he knew that knock.

"Sir?"

The General looked up. There in the doorway stood his 2IC, Colonel Jack O'Neill, casually leaning on the frame, looking more relaxed than he had in days. But there was something else there as well. Never in the entire time that they'd known each other, had Hammond ever seen Jack O'Neill _nervous_. It not only puzzled but concerned the General greatly.

"Jack? Didn't I order you to go home?"

"I did, sir, but then I came back."

"I can see that. Is there any particular reason why?"

"Uh, actually, yes, there is."

Jack hesitated while the General waited for an explanation. How much should he tell the General? The whole truth sounded like fiction in his own ears, and he couldn't help Carter in a rubber room...

"Well?"

The query seemed to snap Jack out of his reverie.

"Sir, I want to request a retrieval team sent to P30-154 to retrieve Major Carter's body. And if it's not asking too much, sir, I'd like to go with them."

"Request denied."

"General..."

"No, Jack, and that's final. I won't put the lives of more men at risk, even if it is to retrieve the body of one of our own."

"This is _Carter_ we're talking about here..."

"Exactly. Which is why I won't send more people into a hostile situation. And besides, from what you and your team have told me, the Major is dead and she's not coming back."

"I _know_ what we told you but we were wrong. Carter's alive, she told me so herself."

The General paused, giving the words a moment to sink in. A moment or so later, after catching Carter trying, without success, to bang her head against a wall, Jack caught the implications of his own words.

"That is to say, I have a gut feeling about this."

"Nice save," Sam said dryly.

"I'd like to see _you_ do better," Jack sniped back.

"Excuse me?" Hammond asked, affronted.

"Oh, not you, sir. I was talking to Carter."

"Jack, there's no one there."

Frustration brought Jack's Minnesotan accent to the forefront.

"What're ya talkin' about? Are you trying ta tell me ya don't see Carter standing right there?!" he pointed to her general direction. The General, of course, saw nothing.

"Colonel, maybe..."

"Now I know what you're about to say and no, I do not need to see Dr. Mackenzie."

"Jack, you're talkin' to imaginary people."

"They're not imaginary. It... _she_ is real."

"This bodes _so_ well for your sanity plea," Sam remarked.

Hammond had had just about enough. The death of Major Carter must have affected his 2IC more than he'd thought. It was obvious to him that Jack was having a mental breakdown, what with his talking to thin air and all. He discreetly picked up the phone and asked Walter to call down the rest of SG-1 and inform Dr. Fraiser.

"I don't see you helping any."

"What do you want me to do? As far as I know you're the only person I can communicate with."

Jack looked puzzled. Sam continued.

"Which means that no one else, including Daniel, Janet, General Hammond, even Teal'c, can see _or_ hear me."

Jack appeared thoughtful for a second. Then he spoke.

"And you couldn't have told me this on the ride over here?!"

Sam shrugged.

"I thought you knew," she said calmly and nonchalantly.

"You thought I... you should know better than to assume that I can figured stuff like that out on my own!"

"With all due respect, sir, we all know you're smarter than you look."

Jack was about retaliate when he realized that him and Carter had an audience. He turned to Hammond who had just put down the phone.

"I know what this looks like."

"Do you, Jack? Do you really?"

"Look, I'd be slightly hesitant to let me though the gate, too, especially when I currently sound like a stark-raving lunatic," he glanced at Sam. "but, sir, you gotta admit, this isn't exactly the weirdest thing that's ever happened to us."

"If my theory is correct, my consciousness is stuck in your head," interjected Sam. "How is that _not_ the weirdest thing that's ever happened to us?"

"Carter..." Jack growled impatiently, leaning heavily on the hands he placed on the edge of the table. "Let me handle this." He looked at her.

Sam crossed her arms and sulked at the reprimand.

The General was thouroghly confused.

Jack turned back to the General. "Sir, ask me anything that you think Carter would know but I wouldn't."

"Jack, I don't know what you're playin' at, but..."

"I'm not playing at anything, General, I swear. Try me."

Hammond did a short, but very accurate, impression of a gaping fish before he gathered his wits and answered.

"Fine. Colonel, what is... a black hole?"

"What is a black hole?" It sounded so simple. He turned to Sam. "You heard him Carter, start explaining." Sam opened her mouth but Jack held up a finger. "But before you do I feel it necessary to advise you to speak slowly and use simple words so that I can prove to the good General that you're really here and that I have _not_ lost possession of my faculties."

Sam smiled at his antics. She began explaining with Jack mimicking every word for the General to hear.

"What is a black hole? A black hole is a finite amount of mass that is infinitely dense and infinitely small. Yet this seemingly insignificant region of space exerts such a gravitational pull that nothing can escape from being sucked into it. All energy, mass, or even light cannot come in contact with the boundry, or event horizon, without getting vaccumed into the singularity of the black hole. Singularity is the centerpoint of the black hole where it is speculated to be the end of time and the end of space since all matter is condensed into almost nothingness."

Hammond just stared at Jack, his brain not able to process what had just come out of his mouth. He sounded like the Major, smart and confident... about _astrophysics_. And Jack didn't do astrophysics. Sure he looked at the stars, knew the basic names of astronomical bodies and such but...

Was it even possible? Could it be... could it be that she was still alive? They'd thought they'd lost Daniel in a similar fashion a few years back. But this time they'd all been there and it was real and Jack, he'd confirmed her death. But it sounded... _just like her_.

The shocked speechlessness turned into an awkward silence. Jack turned to Sam. "You do realize" he started. "that I have no idea what I just said."

"Look it this way, sir:" Sam said a smile growing on her lips. "You did good."

She reached up to squeeze his shoulder in support, forgetting that she had no physical body. She'd barely even brushed him when Jack gasped and his eyes shut.

"Jack?" asked the General, uncertainly.

Jack's eyes snapped open and he looked around, confused. Then his gaze landed on General Hammond to his right. '_Right?'_ Jack looked down at his strong, calloused hands. "Oh, no," he looked up at the General again. "You can see me?" he asked, slowly. The General nodded. "Oh, this is too weird!" Jack carefully held his own hands away from himself.

"Colonel..."

"No, sir, it's me. Major Sam Carter, at you're service."

_'And this ladies and gents is the frosting on the proverbial cake.'_

"This is too weird," Sam repeated with a groan.

* * *

Technobabble in this chapter was brought to you by...

The _Amanda Tapping and David Hewlett (reupload)_ on youtube. It's a video of Amanda Tapping challenging David Hewlett to see who could read faster. Sam Carter versus Rodney McKay. It's brilliant so I just _had_ to include it. It was written by Amanda, not me, so I do not own it in any way. All I did was transcribe it, so don't sue... review! Later!


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